Giant Foot-Long Shrimp Have Invaded US Waters

Monster shrimp, some up to the length of a man's forearm, are
invading U.S. waters.

Asian tiger shrimp have spread from North Carolina to Texas along
the U.S. coast, but no one seems to know how they ended up in the
U.S. in the first place.

They are originally natives to Indo-Pacific, Asian, and
Australian waters.

The shrimp may have escaped aquaculture facilities in the U.S. or
Caribbean, or maybe even drifted in on ocean currents from the
Caribbean or even as far away as west Africa.

The shrimp first showed up in 1988, according to the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and
were linked to a South Carolina aquaculture facility where some
2,000 animals were accidentally released. Scientists aren't yet
calling Asian tiger shrimp an "established" species since its
still unclear if they are successfully breeding or just drifting
in on currents.

Check out this video from the Wall Street Journal to get
a better sense of the size of these monsters.

There are signs they've started breeding: Scientists have seen
young Asian tiger shrimp in the marshes of Mobile Bay in Alabama,
suggesting the species is reproducing locally.

The presence of these invaders has been reported for over a
decade, but in recent years the reports have noticeably
increased.

Pam Fuller, the USGS biologist in charge of the Nonindigenous
Aquatic Species database said they have confirmed
nearly a tenfold increase in reports of Asian tiger shrimp in
2011.

"And they are probably even more prevalent than reports suggest,
because the more fisherman and other locals become accustomed to
seeing them, the less likely they are to report them," Fuller
said to NOAA.

Asian tiger shrimp are predators, unlike the native scavenging
U.S. shrimp. They eat crabs, clams, and even other shrimp.
Researchers are racing to discover how this invasive species
could impact native coastal ecosystems.

The native shrimp are much smaller:WSJ Live

These giant shrimp are totally edible, and supposedly taste good!
They're delicious in butter sauce just like other shrimp.